The present invention relates to an improved ventilator tube holder and more particularly to a holder comprising a strip of flexible material with a hole there through and beyond the hole the strip is bifurcated providing a pair of strips for passing respectively on opposite sides of a ventilator tube, or component of a ventilator system, connected to a tracheostomy tube. Opposite ends of the strip have cooperating portions of a hook and loop fastening means thereon that cooperate with one another for detachable interconnection or detachable interconnection with appropriate portions of corresponding fastening means on a tracheostomy tube holder that goes around the neck of a patient.
Tracheostomy patients are fitted with a tracheostomy tube that has a flange, also referred to as a neck plate, intermediate the ends thereof. The plate limits the depth of penetration of one end portion of the tube through a hole in the patients neck into the trachea and an opposite end portion of the tube projects outwardly from the plate. The plate connects to the tube preferably in such a manner as to allow limited movement of the tube relative to the plate, e.g. a pivotal connection. A ventilator tube, or ventilator circuit component, connects to the opposite end portion of the tube that projects outwardly from the patients neck. Straps referred to as holders are used to retain the tracheostomy tube on the patients neck. Furthermore, straps are used to keep the ventilator tube, or ventilator circuit component as the case maybe, connected to the tube projecting from the patients neck. There are a variety of known devices serving these purposes as exemplified by the following United States Patents: U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,577 granted Aug. 22, 2000 to Scott H Varner; U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,373 granted Aug. 22, 2000 to David Delaplane et al; U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,699 granted Apr. 11, 2000 to Sadi Ryatt et al; U.S. Pat. No. 6,008,872 granted Jan. 4, 2000 to David Delaplane et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,236 granted Jul. 21, 1998 to Steven M Ess; U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,732 granted Sep. 30, 1997 to Michael I Bowen; U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,216 granted Mar. 26, 1996 to Timothy N Byrd; U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,988 granted Aug. 24, 1993 to Wesley G McNeese; U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,144 granted May 25, 1982 to Herbert H Wapner; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,437 granted Feb. 2, 1982 to Dianne I Martin.
The forgoing patents disclose various strap means that loop through a spaced apart pair of slots in a neck plate having a tube attached thereto that projects though a hole in a patients neck into the trachea. The straps go around the patients neck and thereby hold the tube device in position. The ""699 patent and the ""236 patent additionally have means for ensuring a ventilator tube remains attached to the patient mounted device. In all instances the holder for the patient mounted device and the holder for the ventilator tube are completely unrelated and thus bear no similarity to one another. There is absolutely no way one of the known holders for one purpose could be substituted for one of the known holders serving the other of the two purposes.
The present invention provides a holder for use on tracheostomy patients comprising a flexible strip of material having a principal strip portion with a hole there through and a bifurcated portion that provides two minor strip portions extending from said principal strip portion. One such holder maybe used to retain the tracheostomy tube on the patient and another such holder used to ensure the ventilator tube (or ventilator system component) remains connected to the patient attached device.